The current state of the media in NZ in 2016

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Journeyman

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#1664667 6-Nov-2016 20:07

I've just skimread most of this thread, but I just wanted to chip something in.

A lot of people think that TVNZ is government funded. Apart from things like contestable NZ On Air funding for some programs and funding of transmitting programmes to the pacific, TVNZ is not government funded. In fact, the money flows in the opposite direction. The government, as the sole shareholder, can take whatever dividend it wants. For FY2016, TVNZ earned a $12.7m profit. It paid $13.4m to the govt as a dividend. Total revenue was $326.1 million (down $23.9m), operating costs $303.3m (down about $10m on the previous year. Programme rights were about $46m.

Think about those numbers. TVNZ did not get to keep its profit and in fact had to fork over a little extra. It's an expensive business and there's not really much money to splash out on great programming. At the same time, people are finding new avenues for entertainment and the advertisers are moving away from tv advertising. All these factors influence each other and create a downward spiral. Think about that next time you wonder why free-to-air television is (poo emoji)

In case someone thinks I'm being anti-government, I don't believe a change in govt would necessarily improve prospects for TVNZ. A lot of the problems would still remain and I don't think any govt would be willing to throw in the amount of money required to Make TVNZ Great Again (sorry). Those numbers, I think, are quite sobering.

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Rikkitic

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#1664680 6-Nov-2016 20:51

I think the issue for some people, at least for me, is not whether the government funds TVNZ, but that it operates it as a commercial cash cow crap broadcaster instead of using its ownership to stimulate quality content that benefits the country. There is already plenty of marshmallow TV. We don't need more of the same from our public service.

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jonathan18

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#1664879 7-Nov-2016 11:12

jonathan18:

While I'm aware that Stuff-knocking is seemingly regarded as a necessary requirement for all of those posting on Geekzone, I think that is a dangerous generalisation; the same can be said in regards to the Herald.

The reality is that both companies have some excellent journalists working for them producing some excellent content. The problem is finding that content can be tricky, as we know what kind of cr@p clickbait both dominate their front pages with. Russell Brown had an interesting post last month on the deterioration of the Herald's site (eg, the increasing use of Daily Mail content).

It was Stuff that took on most of the 3rd Degree team to establish the Circuit team, which have been given the resources and opportunity to produce long-form investigative reports, such as this one on racism in the NZ justice system (including a 24 minute video). What really surprises me is that Stuff appears to have made no effort to provide this team with a sub-site on Stuff, where all their content can easily be found. Or to even provide a central spot where users can find all longer-form reports on the site.

I think the launch and growth of The Spinoff has been another positive development in local journalism (Duncan Grieve's obsession with the greatness of Real Housewives of Akld aside!).

Then there's Pundit, another good site for current affairs and (well-argued) opinion.

And blog sites like Public Address featuring blogs such as Hard News.

I could go on, but I've made my point... Sure, mainstream news is rubbish and just getting worse; but there are lots of alternatives out there - including numerous NZ sites from which you can get your fix.

Here's a new example of the decent investigative reporting that does go on at Stuff, just well-hidden amongst the dross and advertorials.

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